OT: Open Concept....that stupid term drives me bananas! :OT

RRP

my wife and I often tune in to TV channels about home sales, island locations, and even the foreign market. The term that bugs the living sh-t out of me is "open concept"!!!

I mean what do they tell guests when the guests can see the dirty kitchen? the rug rat toys? the pet's litter box? your bedrooms? and of course you taking a whiz or dump in their open concept bathrooms?

Do any of these "open concept" fans realize the construction rip offs when no walls, no H&C ducts, no electrical wiring etc the contractors need not construct so newbies can get their precious open concept?

oooops, off the soap box! 

lkapigian

I feel for you , I feel the same way about CAPTCHA ...

SGH

RRP said:

The term that bugs the living sh-t out of me is "open concept"!!!

Ron, take a deep breath and relax. Look at the pretty tugs and calm down. Life is to short. Or so they say. But they say a lot 

RRP

LOL @SGH... no problem! I just had to get that off my mind!

SGH

RRP said:

LOL @SGH... no problem! I just had to get that off my mind!

I’m just messing with you Ron. I’m so happy just to be home and cutting up again. 

Legume

I just hate it when those kids are on my lawn.

ryantt

Ron the other thing that drives me nuts is the budgets these people have.   The show always starts the same way, I sharpen pencils 2 days a week and my.....catches butterflies platt time 1-2 days per month.  We have a budget of 1.5million.  

My my wife loves these shows but they drive me nuts. 

Rant official over.  

Gulfcoastguy

Yep for example a prospective home owner is an Ensign in the Navy and his wife is a school teacher. Their max budget is $750,000.00. They want granite counter tops, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, and a 3 car garage though they have no kids yet and he can expect to be transferred within 4 years. 

baychilla

Same people that fail to understand why the "open office" isn't a good idea and overall less efficient than even cubicles.

pgprescott

I like it when they are looking at a million dollar home which is 1000sf and the deal breaker is they don’t like the fridge? Buy a new fridge and sell the old one. 

GlennM

I always think, it’s not a concept, it’s a reality

Spring Chicken

I got over it in the Army.



And lived.

Poulet de "One Day In The Army Makes A Million Days At Home Easy To Accept" Printemps
Formerly Spring "Nested In Close Quarters" Chicken
Covington Louisiana USA

saluki2007

We built our home as an open concept.  Only regret I have is when people are over they can see me taking a dump in the kitchen sink.

Woodchunk

Spring Chicken said:

I got over it in the Army.



And lived.

Poulet de "One Day In The Army Makes A Million Days At Home Easy To Accept" Printemps
Formerly Spring "Nested In Close Quarters" Chicken
Covington Louisiana USA

So true

poster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkhUT4yDx8

you might like this then

northGAcock

Ron....you remind me of Mad Max

https://youtu.be/8f9z8u6lcbg

stlcharcoal

As a former flipper and real estate agent, I'll jump in here.....

Those shows are complete BS.  They're for entertainment, not a real documentary.  The contract/negotiation process is BS, the renovation are BS, it's all BS.  I forget which show it is--where they decide to move in or sell at the end--but they film BOTH endings and run whichever one tests better with the focus group.  All these shows drove up the prices on these beater houses to the point where a lot of people who used to do it for a living can't anymore.  Everybody things they're going to get the house, put $10K into over the summer and then make $50K on the sale......then after a year and much, much more, they get out of it.  I described my buddy (contractor) and I (realtor) like the Property Brothers--but we didn't have the skills, smarts, nor good looks to make it work.  haha

As far as "open concept" goes, that's a big selling point and not because it's "thing" on TV.  It's more about how we live now.  It used to be that houses had a bunch of rooms, each with a certain setting and function.......living room, family room, dining room, parlor, library/den, kitchen, etc.  Going back before central air/heat, it was just easier to keep them small and only heat the ones you were using at the time.  TV or family room was for a 12" TV or radio speaker, not the refrigerator sized 52" projections, or a 80" LED now.  Also, things are much less formal now, so guests usually go to the family room vs. living room, you have tablets/kindles instead of a room full of books, people eat in the kitchen table or island not the dining room, etc.  Kitchens are 3x the size they used to be because they're the most functional room is the house......food preparation, eating, entertainment, projects on the island like folding laundry, homework, etc.   Parents want to be able to be cooking, and see the kids on the couch or doing their homework.  Gone are the days of everybody going to their separate nook for whatever--one big functional room.

As an agent, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to sell because with furniture, you can make that big functional room into whatever you want......you're not stuck using the builder's & society's idea of how that house is supposed to lived in.  It can be dynamic.  Look at strip malls, office parks etc.  They put four walls up on a concrete slab, then whoever the occupant is can puts offices, restaurants, gyms, whatever they want inside in about a week.  It's open, it's modular, it's about making it adaptable as possible for the next occupant.  If you have an "open concept" and want to close it up, that's super easy to put up a wall, partition, etc.......going the other way when that wall is load bearing, has HVAC, plumbing, electric lines inside, then the floors won't match--that's a pain!! 

northGAcock

stlcharcoal said:

As a former flipper and real estate agent, I'll jump in here.....

Those shows are complete BS.  They're for entertainment, not a real documentary.  The contract/negotiation process is BS, the renovation are BS, it's all BS.  I forget which show it is--where they decide to move in or sell at the end--but they film BOTH endings and run whichever one tests better with the focus group.  All these shows drove up the prices on these beater houses to the point where a lot of people who used to do it for a living can't anymore.  Everybody things they're going to get the house, put $10K into over the summer and then make $50K on the sale......then after a year and much, much more, they get out of it.  I described my buddy (contractor) and I (realtor) like the Property Brothers--but we didn't have the skills, smarts, nor good looks to make it work.  haha

As far as "open concept" goes, that's a big selling point and not because it's "thing" on TV.  It's more about how we live now.  It used to be that houses had a bunch of rooms, each with a certain setting and function.......living room, family room, dining room, parlor, library/den, kitchen, etc.  Going back before central air/heat, it was just easier to keep them small and only heat the ones you were using at the time.  TV or family room was for a 12" TV or radio speaker, not the refrigerator sized 52" projections, or a 80" LED now.  Also, things are much less formal now, so guests usually go to the family room vs. living room, you have tablets/kindles instead of a room full of books, people eat in the kitchen table or island not the dining room, etc.  Kitchens are 3x the size they used to be because they're the most functional room is the house......food preparation, eating, entertainment, projects on the island like folding laundry, homework, etc.   Parents want to be able to be cooking, and see the kids on the couch or doing their homework.  Gone are the days of everybody going to their separate nook for whatever--one big functional room.

As an agent, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to sell because with furniture, you can make that big functional room into whatever you want......you're not stuck using the builder's & society's idea of how that house is supposed to lived in.  It can be dynamic.  Look at strip malls, office parks etc.  They put four walls up on a concrete slab, then whoever the occupant is can puts offices, restaurants, gyms, whatever they want inside in about a week.  It's open, it's modular, it's about making it adaptable as possible for the next occupant.  If you have an "open concept" and want to close it up, that's super easy to put up a wall, partition, etc.......going the other way when that wall is load bearing, has HVAC, plumbing, electric lines inside, then the floors won't match--that's a pain!! 

Brother.....your charcoal is for real an that is all that matters.  

DoubleEgger

I like her open concept 

fishlessman

i like the living area, kitchen, and my den all separate.  the high school in town is open concept, now thats just plain stupid, 6 classrooms all facing each other.

Lit

Ron its not really cheaper when you figure in what they have to do structurally with beans to get rid of the walls. I made our whole downstairs open concept and it looks 100 times better. 

Lit

RRP

By light of day (after reading all the comments - ESPECIALLY from @stlcharcoal and the above picture by @Lit ) I better understand and I sincerely thank all of you for explaining open concept!

kl8ton

We kind of have the best of both worlds.  With our addition, living, dining, and kitchen are all open.  The other half of the house. . . the original part was built in 1900 - All rooms.  

As @lit stated.  It can be a real head scratcher for the structural part.  LVL beams have to be quite substantial.  I have a 22 x 40 area that is open on the main floor, but bedrooms above.  Architect did not get it right and the lumber company that was fabricating and supplying all the framing came out to figure out a plan.  My main floor has a bit of bounce to it that drives me crazy.  We want an open floor plan in the basement when we finish it and the MRS wants no supports down there.  I have to try to mitigate deflection with cross bracing between the floor joists with some blocking and some struts.  It is built to code. . . but not my code.  ;-)

gdenby

I inherited a rather standard 1970's ranch house from my uncle. Roomy, well built, but needed lots of cleaning, painting, etc. Went to sell it. Turned down because the floor plan was too old. The kitchen appliances, which worked fine, and had not been used after my aunt passed decades earlier. They were too old fashioned, and don't even mention those old cabinet doors. Sigh.

If you enjoy ranting against the home shows, check out a satire site called McMansion Hell.

DoubleEgger

Looks great @Lit

Legume

DoubleEgger said:

I like her open concept 

Sometimes you remind me of that semi-creepy uncle that could stop a holiday dinner conversation cold with one comment.  Just sometimes though.

Lit

DoubleEgger said:

Looks great @Lit

Thanks. Redoing the fireplace as we speak One more coat of poly and the mantel is ready to hang. Just finished framing the hearth now I gotta frame and cement board the rest and hopefully start tiling tonight. 

Lit

stlcharcoal

Lit said:

I like that gray.....looks good.

We've been using "Repose Gray" from Sherwin Williams on about everything (last flip house I did, the charcoal warehouse office & kitchen, my basement, and several of my clients have used it to get their houses ready for market.

stlcharcoal

kl8ton said:

We kind of have the best of both worlds.  With our addition, living, dining, and kitchen are all open.  The other half of the house. . . the original part was built in 1900 - All rooms.  

Yeah the open floor plan makes it even more of a problem for the HVAC guys, plumbers, etc because you can't really put that stuff on exterior walls.  You almost need to plan in a closet sized chute up the middle to efficiently run all that stuff.  Otherwise you'll be waiting 2+ minutes for hot water or other inconveniences.  With HVAC you sometimes have to go with a separate unit for upstairs, or go ductless.......love all the new options on that.  But if you get a guy that doesn't know what they're doing, or just sticks the ducting wherever he can, you'll end up with all kinds of problems--including a high utility bill.  You almost have to come up with a concept, then show it to the HVAC guys to make sure it will ventilate efficiently and effectively.